Tuesday, September 24, 2024

A drug-free mindfulness prescription (2)


CONTINUED FROM PART 1: Mindfulness groups are one of the most common forms of practice.

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“This not only helps you learn the meditations but also provides a support network,” says Prof. Williams. “But there are a plethora of apps, books, and online resources now available that people can turn to if they don’t like the idea of group work and can’t get a referral to a specialist. There is a growing body of evidence that these sorts of resources can be just as useful.”

Mindfulness groups provide a vital support network - HRAUN/E+ Mindfulness groups provide a vital support network - HRAUN/E+ © Provided by The Telegraph.

Even for those without clinical conditions, mindfulness is a useful tool in the daily battle with life’s stresses and strains. The mind can be a chaotic place if left unguarded.

Thoughts spiral, worries inflate, worst-case scenarios will run riot unless we develop a mental filing system to keep everything organized.

“It’s about developing a quality of consciousness focused on the present moment,” says Dr. Zarotti. “And it plays a significant role in cognitive reappraisal, an emotion regulation strategy where you take a step back from an emotional event, rethink it and change your reaction to it – to focus not on what the emotion does to you but rather what you do with it.”

And it’s not all about dealing with negative emotions. Mindfulness can also help enrich our experience of the positives.

“With practice, you can become more aware of all the good things around you that might sometimes go unnoticed in busy, stressful lives,” says Ward. “You will notice positive thoughts and feelings when they arrive and perhaps appreciate them more. You might well find yourself becoming more alert to beauty in nature.”

This is just one of the ways in which you can tell if mindfulness is working for you. “I use the analogy of gardening,” says Prof. Williams. “You can plant a seed, but you don’t expect to see the plant sprout the very next day. You keep watering every day and try to be patient.

We suggest trying it for eight weeks before seeing results. Take 10 to 20 minutes to yourself every day to practice mindful meditations. Don’t judge it. Don’t dwell on whether it’s working or not. Just wait. Eventually you will start to notice the benefits. Many people start to feel calmer and more centered within just a couple of weeks.”

It might be scientifically proven to work but there is still something about mindfulness that feels like an art. There is a subtlety to the way in which it works that requires patience and a certain amount of faith. But if the idea of training your brain like a muscle to resist pain, worry, depression and negativity sounds like a lot of hard work, it doesn’t have to be. “Some forms of meditation and therapy ask to elicit a change in your experience,” says Ward.

“But mindfulness is all about just observing the way you already are. By being more aware of yourself, you can take better control of how you feel.” How to get started Professor of Clinical Psychology Mark Williams is the author of Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Finding Peace in a Frantic World that recommends the following exercises:

1. Learning to focus attention
I can change my mind and place my attention?
We often find ourselves distracted. Here is something to practice for a few minutes each day that helps your mind to settle. It takes time to learn this, so don’t worry if it feels hard at first. Start by finding a comfortable posture, either lying down or sitting, spending a few moments bringing your awareness to your whole body, allowing yourself to be just as you are, as best you can.

Find a comfortable posture, either lying down or sitting - vgajic/E+ © Provided by The Telegraph

When you’re ready, bring attention to your feet for 10 breaths. See if it is possible to feel whatever sensations are in your feet – being curious about the ever-changing patterns you find here.

Then, shift your attention to the contact with whatever is supporting you (the seat if you’re sitting) for 10 breaths, then your hands for 10 breaths, and eventually coming to focus on the sensations of your breath itself for 10 breaths.

Then, in your own time, choose whether to stay with the breath as your focus or return your attention to your feet, your hands or the contact with your seat or mat if you’re lying down.

Continue to sustain your attention on the place in the body that you have chosen as your focus for 20 breaths or longer, gently bringing back your attention whenever you find that it has wandered away from where you had intended it to be.

In this way, discover for yourself what supports you in steadying yourself, so you can use this at any time of day or night when the mind feels over-busy or distracted.

2. Sensing the flavor of experience

Anything that arises in the mind or the body automatically brings with it a sense of pleasantness or unpleasantness. This is called the “feeling tone” of an experience.

It can be very obvious or more subtle, but if we are not aware of it, it can be a tipping point, making us react in ways that we might later regret. This short meditation can help you notice the flavor of experience moment by moment and provide a vital pause before you decide how to respond.

First, settle yourself by bringing your awareness to your feet on the floor, or the contact with your seat, or your hands on your lap, or your breath. Keep your attention focused on one of these anchors for 10 breaths. Then, after a while, expand the focus of your awareness to the whole body.

Stay here for 20 breaths, or more if you choose, and when you notice any sensation in the body, register whether it’s pleasant, unpleasant or neither.

Expand the focus of your awareness to the whole body - Olga Rolenko/Moment RF © Provided by The Telegraph

Then, when you’re ready, register the “feeling tone” of thoughts and emotions that come up. This means taking a moment to register whether any of them are pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral. Allow this awareness of thoughts and feelings to last for around two minutes if you can.

And if a feeling tone is hard to register, let it go and wait for something else to arise, always aware throughout the meditation that if anything, at any time, seems overwhelming, you can bring the focus of your attention back to your breath, or your feet on the floor, the contact with the chair, or your hands on your lap.

3. Dealing with the over-busy mind
"Don't just do something, sit there."
When you get very busy, it is hard to switch off. Your mind continues to work in the background – rehashing events of the day or planning actions for tomorrow, even when you’d rather take a rest. Many of these actions may never be taken, and yet they can interfere with taking wise and necessary action.

This meditation helps allow you to let go of needless action – at least for now.

Start by settling yourself for a few moments – attending to the sensations of the feet, contact with the seat, the hands or breath, then, for a few moments more, coming to rest in awareness of the whole body, sitting here.

Then, at a certain point, direct your attention to whatever is arising in mind and body from moment to moment: sensations, sounds, thoughts, feelings – whatever they are. Take each moment as it comes, breath by breath, with openness, curiosity and kindness.

Allow yourself to be carried away by daydreams - Westend61 © Provided by The Telegraph

If only there were an easier way to get a grip
From time to time, you will likely become “lost” in thoughts, carried away by daydreams or plans or worries. As soon as you notice this has happened, on the next out breath, say inwardly “no action needed right now”. In saying this, you are not trying to make yourself passive, but instead you are practicing allowing irrelevant actions to fade so you can more easily see what is the best and wisest way to respond to the big choices in your life.
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